Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Whew!! I know that
Franki Valli had a night in late December 1963, but we have certainly had one
heck of a day! So much so, that we are
now back at our hotel, showered and changed into completely clean clothes – we were
very, very dusty!
But to begin at the beginning…up around 6, and down to
breakfast about 7. The Hanem Hotel
certainly puts out one heck of a spread – lots and lots of vegetable dishes,
with olives, pickles, etc. – none of which I really wanted to eat but R loved
the grilled veges! And for some reason,
their raisins were so large that they had hard seeds inside – very odd, for
sure! However, certainly enough to go
with plus, a very good chocolate cake!
It wasn’t frosted – just had grated coconut and pistachio on top – but I
did spot some Nutella, so may consider frosting same tomorrow…YUM!
Coming in to town yesterday, we had four things that we
wanted to do: 1) Nemrut Dagi, the huge
heads on top of a mountain; 2) Arslantepe ruin; 3) Malatya Museum, and 4) find
RJB a new pair of tennis shoes, as the ones he is wearing are falling
apart. So…on to #1!
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| Apollo on Nemrut Dagi! |
Nemrut Dagi is the site of huge stone carved bodies and
heads done in the 64-38 BC range by (mad) King Antiochus I Epiphanes, son of
Mithridates I at the top of a mountain.
They are as synonymous with Turkey as are the pictures of balloons
floating over Cappodocia, if not more so!
I have been reading about them for years, and had decided that we wanted
to see them. Now, traditionally,
tourists sign up for a mini-van tour up the mountain, either from the north
(Malatya) side, or from the south (Karadut) side. And, for some reason known only to tour
operators, they have sold the public on the concept that one needs to be “there”
either at sunset or sunrise. Further
reading informed me that if we went during the day, we could possibly have the
place to ourselves! I was actually
thinking a lot about the dreaded “road to Hana” in Hawaii – last time we were
there, we left so early that we were in Hana by 10 a.m., and then started
looking for other things to do! The
locals do try to frighten the
visitors with horror stories about the roads.
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| Bodies with heads in front! |
So…on to the mountains!
From Malatya, it’s about 90 km to the top and the site. Most of the roads are two-lanes, but as you
start winding up the mountain, the roads get narrower and narrower. Additionally, the Turkish sign painters have
learned a LOT from the Italians … you know, they label things very well, and
lull you into a false sense of security – and just when you think you’re
actually going where you’re supposed to, all traces of signage disappears—wham-o,
just like that! Fortunately, Robert was
keeping a very careful eye on the navigation, so when we hit a town with two
ways out, he knew exactly which road to take!
(Otherwise we might still be driving!)
Up and up and up – roads changing from asphalt to graded gravel to very
rocky dirt – and no, zero, zip guard rails at all! WHEW!
I wasn’t sure if Robert was frightened, but I certainly was! [Robert
was!] The only thing that kept me going
was that I kept telling myself that if a stinking mini-van could make it up
those hills, I could too! (Nothing like
a little self-motivation, right?)
Finally arrived at the Milli Parki – and there was, literally, a gate
across the road. Drove up to it, and a
nice man came out and charged us 22 TL (about $11) and let us through the
gate! As Robert says, I wonder how many
tourists he sees in a week’s time!!
Now the road got REALLY dicey; very stomach churning! We went up, switch-backed and up some more,
switch-backed and up still higher! I
sincerely thought we were NEVER going to get there! And just about the time when I was telling
myself that enough was enough – we were there!
(Actually, we had reached a row of boulders place across the road – a little
sign!!
We had to walk about ½ km to the top (about 7,200 feet
elevation), and the wind was blowing a gale – but we actually had the entire
site to ourselves! (There were two men
on the other side, who were half-way down their set of stairs, but that was
it!) Truly amazing! Both sides have the same number of carvings –
Antiochus I, Fortuna, Zeus, Apollo and Hercules, along with lion and eagle
statues standing guard. They had originally
been set up on stone carved bodies, many of which are still intact, but the
entire site has been hard hit over the years by earthquakes, and the heads have
“rolled” so to speak…(sorry…)
Robert took lots of photos of the eastern terrace, and then
we walked around to the other side for a second set of photos. On this side, it was possible to see some of
the old Greek inscriptions that were carved into the backs of the statues –
complete instructions on sacrifice and offerings on the date of Antiochus’s
birthday and the anniversary of his coronation.
Robert thinks his people must have been batty to do all that work. Did I mention that the statues sit on a
60m-high tumulus of small rocks that’s rated by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest man-made mount,
covering an area of 7.5 acres?!
Having taken lots of photos and standing up in a gale, we
decided to start the journey home … much of which, at least inside the Milli
Parki, was done entirely in 1st gear! Not taking any chances, that’s for sure! We were down about 12:30 p.m. – so, first to
last, the entire journey took us probably about 4½ hours – which certainly beats
going up and/or down in a mini-bus – because I really don’t think I could have
taken the trip that way!
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| Recreated statue in front of Arslantepe |
Once we were heading back toward Malatya, I suggested that
we see if we could find Arslantepe, an ancient site much closer to today’s
city! We could!! Arslantepe had been populated from the Chalcolithic
times through both the Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods, being finally burnt to
the ground and deserted by the Assyrian Sargon II around 712 BC.
The site is currently under excavation by an
Italian group of archeologists, and it is really, truly wonderful to see how
much protection they are taking with it!
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| Portion of Palace under cover |
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| Wall painting in center |
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| Close up of above wall painting |
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| A great way to preserve a ruin! |
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| First try! |
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| At last! The right pair! |
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| HUGE food court! Yum! |
From Arslantepe, we decided to see if we could find a place
to get Robert some new tennis shoes.
Looked in Emmy’s directory, and came up with MalatyaPark, and headed
there! Wow! It’s only about 1½ km from our hotel, and it’s
a stunning new shopping center! Four
floors (at least) with HUGE food court and even a bowling alley! (Doesn’t every shopping mall come with a
bowling alley?!) They had Levi, Addidas,
and Nike stores, and we were able to find R a great new pair to replace his
current shoes! (Fortunately, his Nike’s
had all the sizes – American, British, European on the shoe, which definitely
made things easier!) By this time, we
were both starving, and headed to the food court on the top floor … and walked
into a truly American alley! Szabbos’
(or however you spell it!) pizza, Popeye’s chicken, Burger King and McDONALDS! And yes, dear readers, we did succumb – me for
a Big Mac and fries, and R for a double cheeseburger and fries – all washed
down with a VAT of coke, as we were SO dry and dusty from our schlep up Nemrut
Dagi! Couldn’t help ourselves … lovely
way to end a great but nail-biting kind of drive!!
As Robert pointed out, one thing that I haven’t mentioned as
of yet is the disparity within very small areas of ways of life. Here on one hand, you find a very modern and
up-to-date shopping mall, just like you find all over the U.S. Clothes, bathing suits, shoes, purses – but yet
many of the women are wearing headscarves and long fitted coats. And then, just literally a few miles away,
you have people living in mud-brick houses that have been there for centuries,
following a life style that looks just as old.
One village that we went through the other day near Amasya, most people
didn’t even have full glass panes in the window openings! That would have to get SO cold in
winter! And yet, many of these
uninhabitable looking, crumbling mud brick structures have SATELLITE
DISHES. So…what does one surmise about
progress or lack thereof?
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| A few interesting additions to the menu! |
By this time, the rain which had been threatening (not
forecast, mind you…) decided to come down – which hopefully washed some of the
dirt off our poor little Opal…really need to get that car washed!! Easy route, through all sorts of mechanized
and pedestrian kinds of traffic back to the hotel. Then into the wonderful shower – and we’re
CLEAN yet again! (Honestly, it was one
of those flat shower heads, which covered a lot of the shower – and the
pressure was fabulous! Would love to
have one like that at home!!)
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| A VERY happy (but dusty) driver! |
As it takes so long to download pictures, I’m thinking that
I will include a few pictures of Nemrut Dagi here inside the blog, and then do
one of photos only to follow! Hope
everything makes it out OK! We did!!
Tomorrow, on to the museum!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
Olives everywhere...seems like they come with every meal.
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